Battlefield China

Chapter 25 When Opportunity Knocks

President Wally Foss watched with bated breath as the SpaceX Falcon heavy rocket released its payload module for the final part of its journey. Within seconds of the booster rockets separating from the main body, they began their turn back to Cape Canaveral.

“God, I hope the Air Force is right about the Chinese not being able to shoot down these satellites,” he thought. Otherwise, this was going to be a very expensive waste of limited resources.

“The payload module will now move the DS2000 satellites into their geostationary orbit or GEO over North America and Asia,” announced the Air Force colonel from the newly created US Space Command.

“You all are sure the Chinese aren’t going to be able to shoot these satellites down this time?” inquired the President.

Colonel Ralph Reyes from US Space Command nodded. “Yes, Mr. President,” he replied. “We’ve specifically tasked the B-21 with neutralizing the PLA rocket force’s ability to interdict these satellites. A month ago, we launched a series of decoy satellites that drew out the Chinese weapon platforms and the locations they were using to destroy our satellites. Once we identified the systems, the B-21 was dispatched and six launch facilities and ground laser facilities were destroyed. Based on the communiques we intercepted after those attacks, we are confident we’ve removed the threat to our satellites. We’ve also moved the DS2000s to a much higher GEO to further mitigate the possibility that we missed a launch facility. These satellites should be safe from future PLA actions, Mr. President.”

Several of the other military members nodded. JP from the CIA and Tom McMillan seemed a little less certain, but they held their tongues.

“Explain to me again how these satellites are going to be a big game changer for us,” the President said as he rubbed his temples. He reached for his cup of coffee; it was time to try and dispel his most recent stress-induced migraine with added caffeine.

Colonel Reyes smiled. “Essentially, the Mitsubishi DS2000 satellite will be able to provide real-time, high-speed communication connectivity to our military forces. Each of the satellites has one hundred HTS multibeam communication beams, meaning they’ll be able to provide coverage to many thousands of square miles of the earth’s surface. With three of them in high GEO over Asia and the Pacific, and two of them over North America, we will have effectively restored our military communication to what it was prior to the beginning of the war. In fact, it’s probably going to increase our capabilities, as these satellites are significantly better than the ones there’re replacing.

“Tonight, we launch the next Falcon heavy rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base. That rocket will be carrying ten Iridium4 satellites into high GEO, with five more of them being placed over North America and the other five over Europe. While the DS2000 set of satellites is designated purely for military purposes, the Iridium satellites are slated for commercial use. It’s not going to completely reestablish our civilian satellite infrastructure, but it’s a start.”

Admiral Meyers added, “Once we’ve made certain the PLA isn’t able to shoot these satellites down, we’ll begin a rapid deployment of new military and commercial satellites. Iridium and Mitsubishi have dozens of satellites ready to go at our launch facilities in California, Texas, Florida, and Virginia.”

“What’s in the next batch of satellites?” asked Tom McMillan.

Colonel Reyes answered, “A series of weather satellites, communications and GPS satellites. All total, SpaceX will be sending roughly 67 new satellites into orbit over the next ten days. It’s going to take some time, Mr. President, but we’ll get the world’s satellite infrastructure restored within a year. The new satellites are significantly better, more capable, and have a longer shelf life than the ones they’re replacing.”

The President relaxed a bit. “OK, gentlemen, you’ve satisfied my questions and alleviated some of my concerns. I suppose we’ll know over the next twenty-four hours if our assessment of the PLA’s ability to shoot them down was truly accurate. I hope we’re right, because these satellites aren’t cheap or quick to build. We can’t afford to lose them needlessly.”

President Foss then turned to Secretaries Castle and Landover. “I suppose since this part of the meeting is over,” he announced. “We should discuss the communique you both received.”

Colonel Reyes and a few other staffers took their cue and left the PEOC.

Turning to look at his advisors, President Foss asked, “So, what do we know about this General Yang? Is this offer something we should take seriously or rebuff?”

A few of the generals stirred in their seats, not sure what to say. Up to that point, they’d been executing the strategy of complete and utter destruction of the PLA and the communist government, and since the start of Project Enigma, they’d been exceptionally successful at it.

JP tackled the question first, which made sense to Foss; the CIA had developed a deep personality bio and profile of the mystery general. “General Yang is actually not as big of an unknown commodity as we’d first thought, Mr. President. As it turns out, Yang Yin grew up in the United States. His father owned a Chinese company that had a joint venture with a US firm, and Yang’s father moved his family to America to run the US side of the company when Yang was ten years old. He attended a prestigious private school, and when he turned eighteen, he was accepted into the Citadel as a foreign student. During his time at the Citadel, he excelled academically and physically. In the summer of his freshman year, he went through Army basic combat training at Fort Benning. Then he completed airborne school the next summer and Ranger school his final year at the Citadel. He was offered a commission in the Army upon graduation, but he turned it down when his father and family transferred back to China.

“His father’s company had a lot of contracts and connections within the Chinese defense industry, so he also had a lot of contacts within the PLA. His father used some of those connections and got his son accepted into the PLA as a captain. Yang was taken under the wing of several benefactors who helped to mentor and train him in the ways of the PLA ground forces as he also shared his insight into American military operations. During the next twenty-five years, his military career rose as his benefactors’ careers did. When the war started, he had risen to be the commander of the PLA southern theater of operations. His force led the invasion of Vietnam and the rest of Southeast Asia. Later, his forces led the invasion of Taiwan and the Philippines. He is by far their most capable military commander.”

Foss leaned forward. “This is good background information, but what does it mean?” he pressed. “Is this a legit offer to talk about ending the war, or is this just a stall tactic to take the pressure off them?”

“That’s a tough question to answer, Mr. President,” replied Secretary Landover. “It’s also hard to turn down a legitimate opportunity to talk face-to-face with the one man currently in charge of the Chinese military. I think our current strategy we’ve been pushing with President Hung inside the occupied territories has President Xi’s regime nervous, and rightly so. Our current polls show President Hung has been making significant ground in both acceptance and approval.”

Castle added, “I don’t like the idea of pausing our current military operations. We’ve been hammering the PLA and the civilian government hard. The introduction of the B-21 Raider has been a true game changer in our strategic bombing operations as well. We may only have the one bomber right now, but we’ve been using it with devastating effectiveness. Especially around the Beijing capital region as we hunt down the military and civilian leadership of the country.

“At the same time, I also know that if we aren’t able to come to some sort of terms with them, this war is going to drag on well into the spring or summer of next year. We may take Beijing in the next two or three months, but it’s going to be a bloody campaign. Probably more so than Shanghai, which is hard to comprehend. My opinion is that we should take the meeting but limit its duration. General Yang asked for seven days; I propose we counter with forty-eight hours.”

“I agree, Mr. President,” said Admiral Meyers. “We should take the meeting but reduce the timeframe. The PLA is clearly going to use any reprieve we give them to strengthen their positions, so let’s not give them any more time than is absolutely necessary.”

The other military chiefs around the table nodded.

Sensing that he had a consensus from his senior advisors and military leaders, the President consented to the meeting and a forty-eight-hour ceasefire. The ball was now in the Chinese court — they could accept the new terms, or until then, business would continue as usual.

Tyler Walden had a concerned look on his face as he read through the data of the Y’an UAV deployment schedules. Over the last week, their office had noticed some gaps developing in the Enigma program. Some sections of the UAVs were suddenly not providing the same level of information they had been. Gaps in coverage were starting to become more pronounced, and that meant only one thing — the PLA was on to them and was correcting the problem.

He turned around in his swivel chair, got up and headed for Kate’s office. After knocking on the door frame, he inquired, “You got a minute, Kate? I think we have a problem with Enigma.”

Kate paused typing on her keyboard and looked up at him. “A problem? What do you mean?” Her face contorted with an obvious distaste for the words that had just come out of her mouth.

Tyler came all the way into her office, closed the door, and then plopped himself down in the chair in front of her desk. “I’ve been monitoring the Y’an drones to see how many of them are still operational and to see if there are any major holes or gaps in coverage. As the PLA Air Force’s fighter presence and their air defense systems continue to fall apart, more of the Y’ans have been getting shot down by Allied fighters, which is both good and bad for us. Less drones mean a more limited window into their communications.

“The main issue is that over the last four days, we’ve seen a significant drop in data being transmitted by the UAVs. At first it was just a few dozen, then it became entire cities and parts of a province. I initially thought it was related to the Allies shooting down more of their UAVs; however, when I looked at the number of Y’ans operating in the area, I didn’t see a noticeable difference. I just saw that they were no longer transmitting data to us like before.”

“So you think they’re on to us?” Kate asked.

Tyler nodded. “I do. I think they’ve figured out what we were doing and are bringing the drones down as fast as they can to swap out the affected component.”

“Crap,” Kate exclaimed. “If that’s the case, then we need to let the White House know. We need to work with State and get President Hung’s message pumped out across whatever Y’ans we still have access to before they’ve completely cut us out of the network.”

She immediately reached for her SIPR Tandberg. It rang a few times before Tom McMillan picked up. The image of his office came into view as he got up to close his office door. Turning to look at her and Tyler, he said, “I suppose it’s serious if you’re calling me on this thing.”

She nodded. She filled Tom in on what Tyler had just told her, then concluded, “If you guys still want to hit the PLA with President Hung’s social media messages, now’s the time. We’re probably going to lose our access within a week, maybe two tops.”

Tom let out an audible sigh but nodded. “OK,” he said stoically. “I’d hoped we’d be able to maintain this edge a little longer, but I guess we’ll have to go for it. Let me go brief the President and the Secretary of State. I’ll get back with you later.” Then he disconnected the call.

Kate turned to Tyler. “Get the team ready to disseminate the video, just like we rehearsed,” she ordered. “I have a feeling the PLA is going to cut the cord to the program entirely once this message goes live. Then they’ll know for sure we’re inside their system.”